Increasing demand for Chinese herbal medicines (CHM) has led to expanding supply chains. Additionally, the incidence of CHM adverse events including fatalities has necessitated increased compliance. [1] As regulators focus safety and suppliers on volume, a risk of divergence between these presents with increasing complexity. Aim: To explore and evaluate factors which render CHM supply chains particularly complex and thus potentially vulnerable. Methods: Literature search using keywords; “Chinese herbal medicine, complexity, problems, toxicity and supply chain” (11th April 2018), yielded 325 relevant publications. 302 were excluded, 23 were included. The model of A Booker-and M Heinrich on value chains was used in the analysis. [2] Computer-aided thematic generation using (NVivo 11). Coding and thematic analysis with of Braun and Clark methodology. [3] Results and Discussion: Findings show that 9 complexity factors impact CHM supply chains which can be represented by three major themes; human, product and conceptual complexity. They contribute 21, 28 and 51% of the complexity factors respectively. Conclusion: Most complexity in CHM supply chains is contributed by conceptual factors (such as medicinal material status, regulation and value chain elements), followed by product and human complexity aspects. There is a need to further explore the relationship between conceptual complexity and the risk to product quality and safety. |